Reportage

Decades of conflict, corruption, and neglect by the state has scarred the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, fuelled by a lucrative artisanal mineral trade. Money flows to few, bypassing state coffers to the detriment of schools, hospitals, and other services. Civilians are left to fight for their survival against militia and officials alike.

Goma has become synonymous with the conflict in eastern Congo, but in spite of its hardships, groups of musicians and dancers are striving to break the image, whilst helping the most vulnerable members of society.

Warlords, foreign governments, armed factions and militia have fought over Somalia for nearly 20 years, and Mogadishu has been the stage for many of these battles. As a new era emerges out of the combats, investment and stabilisation contribute to a changing face of the city.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by conflict in eastern Congo, sporadic fighting forcing them to pack up their homes and make their homes elsewhere. Sometimes temporarily, often for years.

The greed for ivory is decimating Africa's elephant populations, with thousands of African elephants dying every year at the hands of poachers. Whilst some get caught, corruption means that many others get away, leaving carcasses to litter the national parks and conservancies.

Somali piracy has been in decline for the past few years; hijackings of ships in 2012 was only 11% of those taken by pirates four years previously. This is in part thanks to projects run by the Somali government and development agencies to encourage fishing as an alternative to piracy.

Puntland, a semi-autonomous region of Somalia, has avoided some of the worst battles of Somalia's two-decade long civil war, but populations here are still precarious. Many people live as traditional pastoralists, migrating with their livestock across the often arid countryside. Their animals are their savings, and drought or disease can ruin them.